On March 11, after a month of fighting abroad, Wen Ping, who had been fighting in Yan, Henan, and Yangzhou, finally returned to Yanzhou, stationed troops in the city, and began to rest.

The reason why Rencheng was chosen was the result of careful consideration by Wen Ping.

Rencheng connects Taishan County to the northeast, Xuzhou to the southeast, and Puyang is located in the northwest of Rencheng. Therefore, Wen hired troops here, not only to guard against the invasion of Xuzhou, but also to reinforce Mount Tai at any time, if the battle situation requires, but also to lead the troops to reinforce Puyang.

Actually, that's not all.

The most important thing is that the city of Rencheng is densely populated, the land is fertile, and Wen Pingtun is stationed here, so that he can supervise the development of spring ploughing, and secondly, he can recruit troops here!

After a month of fighting abroad, the 1st Division of the Second Army lost more than 3,000 horses and killed nearly 30,000 enemies! The battle damage ratio is nearly 1 to 10! The Second Division led by Zhuge Jin also suffered some losses in the process of counterinsurgency. Therefore, Wen Ping plans to replenish the soldiers and horses here, and prepare to gallop to Puyang.

On 12 March, before dawn, the coalition forces began to siege the city.

In the last war, more than 400 shield carts of the Three-Way Coalition Army were destroyed by more than 100, and now there are less than 300 left, and it is difficult to maintain the phalanx.

Considering the huge losses in the last battle, Zhuang Shaoyou ordered to replenish the new soldiers, and the candidates for the new recruits were the more than 20,000 people who were on probation.

With the addition of the Fifth Army, the soldiers and horses defending the city were barely enough, Huang Zhong's first division defended the west gate, Sun Guan's third division defended the south gate, and Bao Xin's fifth division defended the east gate; In addition, each division is equipped with 6,000 new soldiers, which can not only assist in defending the city, but also train troops by the way, killing two birds with one stone.

The only downside is that this experience is too bloody, and the recruits on the battlefield are the most vulnerable. Although Zhuang Shaoyou was entangled in his heart, he still made a decision with a hard heart, and in the future, there will be more sacrifices in the process of completing the reunification of China, which is the price that must be borne.

In this siege, the coalition forces still took the shield chariot as the vanguard and organized the shield array to advance slowly.

Zhuang Shaoyou stood at the head of the city to observe the enemy's situation.

"General be careful!"

A pro-soldier shouted and pushed Zhuang Shaoyou away, and then a scream rang out.

Zhuang Shaoyou was shocked into a cold sweat, and when he looked back, the pro-soldier had been knocked beyond recognition, ** spilled on the ground, completely dead, but Zhuang Shaoyou could still see a smile on his blurred face.

Zhuang Shaoyou's heart was sour, but he didn't have time to think about it, and when he returned to the city, the defenders on the city had already fallen, and there were still many broken stones scattered on the city wall, and some wounded soldiers fell to the ground.

"Catapult!"

Zhuang Shaoyou, who was already accustomed to the advantage of weapons, was caught off guard!

Huang Zhong dodged the attacking stones, leaned over and said, "General, according to the visual inspection of his subordinates, the range of the opponent's catapult is about 1,000 steps, and the number is at least forty!" This is only the west of the city, and I don't know how many are in the south and east of the city! ”

When Zhuang Shaoyou heard this, he immediately gasped, his brain thought quickly, and he ordered ruthlessly:

"Pass my order, the bed crossbow will be raised!"

At the sound of an order, the ballista battalion and fire crossbow battalion that were already ready to go at the head of the city immediately retreated to both sides, and the lifting tower below began to creak again, and at the noose under the city, the number of strong men shaking the noose doubled, but they were still struggling.

Four towers were in unison, four at a time, three times in a row, a total of twelve giant bed crossbows were mounted on the launch pad on the city wall, and the launch pad that could accommodate four ballista battalions was actually occupied by more than half!

This kind of bed crossbow is the latest design of the Institute of Science and Technology to defend the city bed crossbow, the volume is super large, two feet long, two feet wide, five feet high, the front end of the bed crossbow also has a thick iron plate and a protective plate made of tung oil wood, the defense is amazing. But it moves extremely slowly, and requires a team of 100 people to operate the drive, which can be called a behemoth.

Of course, its power is also worthy of its size.

Zhuang Shaoyou has only seen it once in the test site in southern Liaoning, and now he has seen twelve at a time, and he can't help but tremble a little, this thing, people block killing, and God blocks killing gods!

"Hurry up and reload! A thousand steps ahead of the coalition army catapult, for General Ben to kill this group of bitches! ”

The soldiers were a little stunned, although they didn't have much contact with Zhuang Shaoyou, they had never seen him so out of shape, with a pair of red eyes, covered in blood stains and a kind of white flowers, the veterans all knew that it was **!

A Mo family mechanic who was in charge of operating the bed crossbow stepped forward and said cautiously: "General, this thing has a big error, and it is not as accurate as a ballista!" ”

Zhuang Shaoyou grabbed the mechanic's shirt, lifted it up effortlessly, and said viciously: "Lao Tzu doesn't care so much, anyway, you have to find a way to kill the catapults raised by those sons of bitches to Lao Tzu!" ”

The mechanic was so frightened by the evil aura on Zhuang Shaoyou's body that he trembled, and quickly nodded yes, Zhuang Shaoyou put it down, and finally gentle, and didn't throw it on the ground. The division hurried back, commanding the soldiers to make corrections, constantly scolding, explaining various points, and looking eager to do it himself.

Zhuang Shaoyou frowned, this thing hasn't been actually operated yet! That's not going to be much better!

"Huang Zhong, how many catapults are there in the south and east of the city? Have you transferred the crossbow to their beds? ”

Huang Zhong saluted and said: "General, the scout just reported that there are catapults in the south and east of the city, General Sun and General Bao are defenseless and have suffered a small loss, but it is no big deal, it is preliminarily estimated that there are about twenty or thirty catapults over there!" ”

Zhuang Shaoyou bowed slightly, breathed a sigh of relief, and said: "Four bed crossbows in the east and south of the city are transferred over, let them use them carefully, I heard that this thing is not very stable!" There are not many crossbow arrows prepared. ”

At this moment, a piercing scream sounded, Zhuang Shaoyou and Huang Zhong were shocked, and they followed the reputation and found that the giant crossbow on the bed crossbow had been launched, four shots at a time, and it roared towards the coalition army's stone-throwing position thousands of steps away.

His eyes followed the arc of the giant crossbow, watching a giant crossbow fall to the ground one after another, and there were bursts of vibration on the ground in the distance, and then a cloud of dust was startled, and it was impossible to see what was happening.

The defenders of the city and the coalition forces under the city all looked back involuntarily.

Yuan Shao, who was on the command car, was dumbfounded, and then his face became gloomy again, and he immediately shouted coldly: "Pass on my military order, and the whole army will speed up!" Start the siege in a quarter of an hour! Violators are engaged in military law! Brother Mengde, let the catapult camp retreat first! ”

Zhuang Shaoyou also gasped: It's terrifying! If a person is bumped into, they will definitely be crushed!

"Well done! Again! ”

At the same time, the bed crossbows in the south and east of the city also moved, and although half of the giant crossbows deviated from the target, the effect was absolutely shocking! The siege coalition was shaken, and the morale of the defenders at the head of the city was greatly boosted!

The catapult position of the coalition forces was in a panic, and the screams were endless, and they were terrible! Those slingers are all technical troops, basically never cut people in battle, and when they saw their companions, they were instantly shattered, leaving no traces that could be identified, and some were crushed by the giant crossbow and the lower half of their bodies were crushed, leaving only half of the wounded soldiers who fell to the ground, and the surviving soldiers of the catapult almost blew up the battalion. Under the restraint of the general's ruthless orders, he reluctantly pushed the catapult and wanted to evacuate.

But the catapult was already bulky and slow, and without waiting to go far, a new round of bombardment arrived!

Zhuang Shaoyou looked back at the soldier who had saved him at all costs, sighed, and then quickly turned his head to look at the battlefield under the city.

"We buried the bones of our comrades-in-arms, wiped away our tears, and set off again!"

Zhuang Shaoyou walked towards the organ division in charge of command, and the organ master who was jumping and cursing saw Zhuang Shaoyou coming, and immediately trembled with fright, and asked in a trembling voice: "General, general!" ”

Zhuang Shaoyou smiled and said in a gentle tone: "Can this guy kill those shield cars?" ”

The machine master looked into the distance, and repeatedly measured it with his hand before shaking his head and said, "General, the minimum range of this crossbow is seven hundred steps, and now the shield cart is only six hundred steps away from the city wall, and it is no longer within the range!" Moreover, the accuracy of the bed crossbow is extremely poor, and the accuracy rate of hitting a fixed target is only three or four percent, let alone hitting a moving target! Unless you shoot with a covered shot, but that would be too wasteful and worth the cost! ”

Zhuang Shaoyou nodded, didn't say anything more, turned around and left, the machine master breathed a sigh of relief, reached out and touched his back, it was already all soaked, a gust of wind blew, and it was cold!

Zhuang Shaoyou thought about it, and then ordered: "Pass my order!" Ordered Tai Shi Ci to lead 5,000 cavalry out of the city to contain the coalition army for a quarter of an hour, and retreat after a quarter of an hour! Four of the bed crossbows were left, and all the rest were withdrawn, and the ballista battalion and the fire crossbow battalion were regrouped and ready to shoot! ”

Tai Shi Ci's iron cavalry rubbed his hands, heard the order, immediately turned over and got on the horse, Tai Shi Ci took the lead, galloping towards the west gate, and the follow-up soldiers accelerated while lining up.

At the moment when the west gate of Puyang was completely opened, Tai Shici, who was in silver armor and white robe, jumped out first, followed by a rolling torrent.

The earthquake trembled, and the coalition forces that were advancing towards the city wall were suddenly a little stunned, but the forward general immediately ordered:

"Stop moving! Defend in formation, and the crossbowmen are ready to shoot back! ”

The coalition soldiers who heard the order hurriedly began to line up, and the formation was a little scattered during the charge, so there was some commotion.

Tai Shi Ci smiled disdainfully, waved his hand, and immediately took the lead in turning the horse's head and turned northward, although the five thousand iron horsemen behind him were puzzled, they still meticulously carried out the order.

Patches of arrows rained down fifty steps before the iron cavalry turned, and the cavalry suddenly broke out in a cold sweat, secretly praising General Tai Shici's might!

Zhuang Shaoyou at the head of the city also breathed a sigh of relief, and praised with a smile: "Don't be arrogant or impatient, Tai Shici has already honed it!" This kind of mind is enough to take charge of itself! ”

Huang Zhong also praised it, but he didn't know much about those things in the past, but the old people in southern Liaoning knew that Tai Shici was a militant, and he would be upset every time he didn't let him be a pioneer in a war.

If it had been three years ago, Tai Shi Ci would definitely have led the team to plunge into it and chisel through the opposing coalition phalanx!

But now, Tai Shici has become much more mature and stable, and he already knows how to cherish the lives of his subordinates, instead of blindly being greedy for merit.